♪ ♪ narror: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: cfo. caregiver. eclipse chaser. a raymond james fincial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs.

and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc world news". philippa: hello, i'm philippa thomas, thiss "outside source ." the taliban continues to challenge for major cities. government soldiers have told civilians they must leave for their own safety. in the west, the taliban is said to have been pushed back. thousands evacuated from the outskirts of athens as wildfires draw near. >> it's one of those situations where you are in the capital of a major western metropolis saying it can't be happening, yet it is.

philippa perhaps the greatest -- philippa : perhaps the greatest footballer on the planet, perhaps leaving the club, after failing to reach a contract. we start with the escalating fight in afghanistan. rural and unpopulated areas have seen fighting and now there is conflict in the provincial capitals with the afghan army fighting back, putting more civilians in more danger. this map shows you some of the key areas of the fightin laschit had been the former headquarters of the british forces. there is fierce fighting there with taliban now in control of large parts of the city. these are members of the afghan army who have been warning residents to stay away. locals have reported that bodies

in the streets and scare supplies of od and water. our afghan journalist based in kabul is with us now with the latest. >> we know the afghan special forces have tried their operations, but we have to remember that the fighting is in the center of the city, city of one million people in the taliban have managed to take control of the local bizarre, as well as shops. speaking to me, a member of parliament from helmand, we were told that people needed food and water. that thereas no power. th taliban were using civilian homes by digging walls andoing from home toome and that the government is doing the same. it is an increbly painful and difficult situation for women and children, we know. we know about shelling, we know about airstrikes, intense ones in the city. this will not be an easy

operation for the special forces. kabul has dispatched its most serious special forces. philippa: there have been some successful defensive actions. the western city security forces were helped by local warlords. this man has thrown everything into repelling the offensive on the city. arlie faulkner was recently there and here is the account. >> i was on the front line there with the local fighters that were fighting and answering to him, alongside government troops. i mean, wdidn't see them coming together and uniting in their attempt at trying to push back the taliban. you know, things have become very severe, same as in kandahar. philippa: the afghan army is

also supported by the few remaining u.s. troops in the country ahead of the final withdrawal. our correspondent explains how important the americans still are in the fight against the taliban. >> the u.s. support for afghan forces is very vital. as you know. u.s. forces have risen some ssessions in the city, having inflicted caalties on them. so, they have the support of the local forces, the uprising forces, which is very important. they are actually helping the afghan forces in many cities. for example, a former jihadi leader now leads the people's uprising forces in the western province and in the meantime, the position in parliament was

to call on the mps to use their influence in the provinces and make the people stand against the taliban. ven the people's support, it has been very much important for the security forces. philippa: david petraeus was commander of the u.s. forces in afghanistan in 2010 and 2011 and here are his worries about the future of afghanistan without a american military presence. >> i fear that we could see a full on civil war of the type that followed the post-soviet period in afghanistan where all of the different warlords have militias on the streets. extremist groups and other insurgent elements with government forces and eventually they may well converge on kabul in the same way that the forces

converged there in the mid-1990's, again, in the wake of the collapse of the post-soviet afghan government. >> let's take a look at the regional politics. there has been a lot of international debate over the role of pakistan in this conflict. the afghanistan government has long accused pakistan of harboring militants who direct attacks there but pakistan denies this as the prime minister responded that he is disappointed that they've been blamed for what's going on in this week the pakistan national security advisor added that they are beginning to see a very conscious and deliberate effort i the afghan government to skate out pakistan. i have been speaking about this with the former canadian ambassador to afghanistan, chris alexander. this is his view of the role of pakistan in the conflict. >> it's the missing piece of the puzzle when we look at why piece

has not come there. there has been a peace process for two years, direct talks and over the longer-term, contacts were 10 years. why is there no permanent cease-fire? in my view it is because they are still proxies, still an armed force set by pakistan as part of its obsession with india to turn afghanistan back into a virtual province under their authority, which it was for five years until 9/11. this is not a policy that pakistanis broadly embrace or know about but it is based on a doctrine of strategic depth that the military embraced after they lost east pakistan in 1971 and have never really given up. so, pakistan is in fact, has been at war with afghanistan for 43 years, ever since the general came into power.

today if we don't do something about that, the taliban will be back and the whole region will be destabilized again after 20 years of international investment in afghanistan. i would be a tragedy. philippa: you are portraying the taliban as puppet of pakistan and i should say that the pakistani foreign ministry has described this as a militia smear campaign and hit back directly at what you have had to say and make the point that there has to be an inclusive political settlement. the taliban has to have a voice, a powerful voice at the table, doesn't it? >> they do, and they have had the voice for two years . virtually every concession imaginable has been made. 5000 of their members were released. u.s. troops are leaving afghanistan and now escalating e fight. ♪ philippa: let's get more on the

breaking news now from the world of all. argentina striker lionel messi will leave barcelona, despite both parties having reached an agreement for a new contrac. that's according to the club, which is citing the economic and structural obstacles to renewing the deal. richard foster is a sports journalist who told me more about the obstacles. >> are so alone i had a bit of brinkmanship here. they are complaining about the rules of wages. although that new contract was agreed on a couple of weeks ago, the written -- the wages were reduced and they are still significant. barcelona are saying that if you want to keep him in the league,topaz release the wages -- the league, you have to allow us to release the wages. it may be brinkmanship, but there are not many clubs that can afford these wages.

he's available for free transfer , the contract is going to be pulled back. but there really are only two clubs currently, psg or manchester city, and they are just about to. gree lish, i'm not sure that they were at -- would add him, though there is of course a connection with guardiol i still think that this has got a little way to run. i feel that barcelona is playing a strong hand and may not actually expect lionel messi to be leaving. philippa: i like the inside, don't necessarily take this at face value. it might be a part of the negotiation. it's a tough argument to make in pr terms, isn't it? caps on wages have to go because footballers deserve even more?

>> yes, i can see how morally it's difficult to support but it is a conflict between the clubs and the leagues. i do feel slightly sorry for those who see it going ahead. sergio left to join his compatriot in barcelona and if he leaves, he's going to be a little bit upset because this was his big chance to play with his hero. philippa: still to com we have a look at the visit between hungary and the president of hungary. -- between a fox news host and the president of hungary. iran's new president has been sworn into office following his election victory in june. he's an ultraconservative and close to the supreme leader. he has been touted as a possible

successor. here is aiden james. >> born in 1960 in iran's second largest city and home to the second-largest she muslim shrine. as a student, he took part in demonstrations against the shah. he joined the judiciary andas later trained by ayatollah khamenei. he became the deputy prosecutor at the age of just 25. in this role he served on secret tribunals that sentenced thousands of political prisoners to death in 1988. the u.n. investigator in iran has called for an independent inquiry into the executions. philippa: welcome back. this is "outside source."

government troops are battling the taliban for control of major cities in afghanistan. let's turn now to greece, where the prime minister says they are doing whatever is humanly possible to tackle wildfires approaching the capital of athens. scorching temperatures and wind have caused the authorities to issue an extreme fire warning. this was near athens earlier today, just to the nth of the greek capital, not far from the city limits. residents are very concerned about the coming days. >> the only worry so far throughout the final deal of the last three days is that the wind has been extremely low. the problem is that the weather reports indicate that as of late tonight, we are going to have stronger wind to have stronger wind building up throughout the weekend and that is of course of tremendous concern if the fires persist. philippa: a journalist from

athens spoke to the bbc after returning. >> as i was there, there were police going literally door to door trying to evacuate people. we had already seen thre districts in the area being evacuated. that's around 2000 people. an additional community was being evacuated as i was leaving areas that were more densely populated. people were really power -- people are really panicking it's the capital of a major western metropolis and you are saying to yourself this can't be happening here, yet it is. philippa: you can imagine that the smoke is making the air unpleasant and even without that, the heat alone makes it hard for residents to cope. >> today the highest temperature was 41 degrees celsius and the

highest we got here in athens was two days ago, 43 degrees. unprecedented. we have never had temperatures like that. athens feels pretty empty right now. the acropolis is closed in the middle of the day, from 12:00 noon until 5:00 in the afternoon, it's just too hot for anyone to be out there. we are worried about the health of the people, the residence and the people visiting the city. it looks like the city, feels like the city is abandoned. people are indoors, even the ones who are here are hiding. philippa: over the last 48 hours the focus has been on the power plant that you can seere, the fires are approaching it in those pictures, causing considerable concern because of at's stored there and it has

been happening in the southern part of turkey around some of the most popular holiday spots and the power plant is just 50 kilometers from the beach. the authorities chose to evacuate holidmakers as the fire approached and one couple from the netherlands spoke after reaching safety. >> no problem, we are on the boat. in the yacht harbor. we work sleeping outside. we noticed it only this morning but had decided already to go this morning to leave the yacht harbor. philippa: a fire did get to the fireworks complex. flammable materials have been removed from the area. as you can see, the fire has been brought under control without serious damage being done to the planet. let's get some more of the turkish efforts deal with the fires. our correspondent is at the

rescue center. >> they call this a disaster coordination center. it's very busy here. we just interviewed the mayor and he says that although they are working, they can expect everyone to do with a and on land and firefighters are doing their best, but all they need is flames. -- planes. turkey doesn't have their own planes to put out the fires from above. the that started days ago are still continuing. the mayor called for airplanes once again. philippa: extreme weather events are becoming more common because of climate cnge. the monitoring service says that in europe they were the second -- they have the second warmest month on record. heat wave in the baltic, as well as the one in the eastern

mediterranean. freya is our senior scientist. >> wit a global warming trend, we will see record-breaking months and years as we move forward because of the underlying trend. and there are slight variations on top of that. not every year will be warmer than the next or every month. philippa: you have probably heard of tucker carlsen, he's a hugely popular anchor on fox news who would like to think of himself as the second only to donald trump as the most influential right-wing voice in america. important context when you consider that he is broadcasting his primetime show from hungary this week, whose leader has been making waves in europe for years by pushing his own brand of populist conservatism. this is how he opened the show on tuesday. >> if you care about the

ferocious assault on western democracy and families, you should know what is happening here right now. >> oddly perhaps, the trip was not announced before this by fox news. the first we heard of it was when the prime minister posted a picture of the two men together and smiling on facebook on monday. that night his primetime show aired from budapest. then he posted this picture of the pair. this isn't as random as it might look. victor or von has many critics in europe who condemn him as increasingly authoritarian, but tucker carlsen seems to be enthusiastic about his direction of travel. why should the rest of us care? carlsen is something of a force in american media. >> tucker carlsen has essentially become the keeper of the flame of right-wing republican populism after the trump presidency. he talks to millions of viewers on fox news you every night and

his name has been floated as a possible presidential contender for the numbing -- nomination in 2024. he's been instrumental in repositioning the republican party be anti-elite, anti-academic party. that means opposing things le unfettered trade, immigration, and leaning heavily into culture war issues. stories about traditional white american families and their values being threatened by leftist progressives in the schools and workplaces and even in their homes. all of that is a bit of an irony , because tucker carlsen is the heir to a frozen food industry fortune, private school educated, he became a kind of intellectual in the conservative press coming up and now he is essentially turning his back on

the establishment that helped give him his rise. philippa: victor orban is one the most controversial leaders in europe. socially illiberal, eu leader who is an ally with russia and courts china, arguing often for tighter borders and describes refugees as muslim invaders and he has spoken in avery of leading and illiberal democracy and he wants to make education more patriotic, in other words saying that we are the hungarians with monumental cultural achievements and last month his advocacy for a new law against anti-avenue am -- against the lgbt prompted many european leaders to argue for actions against the hunt gary and government. here is nick on how this is being viewed in hungary. >> amongst his supporters, it is seen as a starting move, him being a leading american

conservative on the same ideological page. he had a visit where he was given a vit -- vip trip to the border to see the fence and he was comparing that to the chaos as he put it on the u.s. mexican border. interesting, the government somewhat, tucker carlsen is also somewhat during covid has been very skeptical of vaccines and obviously that message would go very much against the message of the right-wing government here in hungary. they are picking and choosing but on the whole they are very happy to have him here. philippa: while the rhetoric of the president of hungary resonates -- causes alarm and much of europe, it resonates with the right and the post calls it one of the most least surprising on the planet, saying

he's defending his countrymen from the dangers of muslim migrannd brussels technocrats. the independent called it hard political tourism and part evangelizing. msnbc says that the agenda seems quite clear, touring kurt --o encourage his followers to consider this disturbing lytic model as a possible future for the united states. >> after the trump presidency, a lot of people in the conservative press here in the u.s., the way it has been reshaped in the trump presidency, who are looking for signs of hope, for a blueprint for how their conservative populist polics can be implemented on a national scale an they think they have found that in victor orban. the same way that donald trump pointed to vladimir putin as an effective leader for his country. victor orban's criticism of immigration and trade, his

defense of so-called traditional family values and western civilization, it all plays really well here in the united states in the conservative press and they see it as a framework for the return of trumpis if not the return of donald trump personally to power here in the united states and in upcoming elections. philippa: this story is also playing up -- playing out in the european press, but with a different ton. monday, you can notice fox news zooming out of the liberty statue in budapest, commemorating the soviet army freeing hungary from the nazi germany occupation. politico reports irony, fox news may have thought it was filming the hungarian equivalent of the statue of liberty but it was gazing at a communist marker. >> the story has picked up on social media with a lot of, as one would expect, quarrels

between right and left views. along with the contributors to it. i think it is quite important to explore here in this moment how useful it is for victor orban as well. he is lonely at an ideological level, but in a recent summit very few heads of government even wanted to shake hands with him, so it has come at a good moment for him, as he is under a lot of criticism internationally and to have this very prominent u.s. ally who has been hit i scandals, the use of israeli scott -- spyware, it has com as a welcome distracti and with him looking ahead to the autumn, he's very much tryingo ally himself with far-right forces in europe so that he feels at this time he is getting strong backing in this way from the united states. philippa: finishing with more breaking football news,

manchester city confirming a signing o jack bray lesh. thanks for being with us here and as ever, much more is narrator: funding for this presentaon of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ narrator: you're watching pbs. ♪ da--da-duh-da-da-da♪ ♪ da-da-da-da-da-da ♪♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: cfo. caregiver. eclipse chaser. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs.